Cahill elected mayor of Beverly

Beverly native and former city council president Mike Cahill won the race to become the city’s next mayor Tuesday.

With all the votes in, more voters sided with the former state representative and City Council president’s star power and Beverly roots over Slate’s claims of a “workhorse” ethic.

Cahill won with 5,752 votes – 55.24 percent of the vote – over Slate’s 43.82 percent with 4,563 votes.

He will take the seat as the city’s first new mayor in 18 years, replacing Bill Scanlon after he announced in April he would not be on the ballot this year for the first time since 1993.

Cahill, 51, presented Beverly voters with a hefty resume and his family’s long political legacy in Beverly, often citing his father’s seat on the city’s now-defunct Board of Aldermen and five brothers on his campaign team. He has bounced from public office to public office, serving as Beverly’s representative in the State House for ten years before a failed run for state treasurer. In 2010 he won a seat on the City Council, serving as president for two years before challenging Scanlon in the 2011 election for mayor.

Cahill took the stage Tuesday night to thank his supporters.

"After three years of talking about what we want for Beverly, we get to finally start doing it," he said.

As the younger of the two candidates, Cahill said repeatedly a win would be one more step in a “generational shift” of younger public officials winning elections statewide.

In a race between two ideologically similar candidates that put management style and experience at its center, Slate considered himself an underdog. He waited to file until he knew who else was running, and recognized that his opponent’s recognizable name in Beverly gave Cahill an advantage. His attempts to woo voters with a solid 6-year record on the City Council and a promise to take a practical approach to the job failed to charm Beverly as much as Cahill’s polished political demeanor. Neither did several high-profile endorsements – including Scanlon’s – convince enough voters that he would “do the work.”

Cahill will leave his current post as the executive director of the Alliance of Massachusetts YMCAs to return to City Hall as mayor.